Eliza Kazan...because his films are almost always great and everything especially the acting is so good I'll spend the entire year talking about each performance and by time I reach a burnout he'll release another good one...

Wong Kar-wai...but just because I'm tired to wait so much for a new film...anyway we must say that, considering the results (maybe not really in MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS case...but that was an exception...at least I hope) in his case waiting is a good thing!

Dead - Billy Wilder. Though he inevitably went off the boil as he got older, he made some of the most sublime, funniest movies ever. Some Like it Hot, Sunset, Appartment, Ace in the Hole...

Living - Cameron Crowe. I know he f**ked up a little with Elizabethtown (though I still think that film has charm) his stuff up to Almost Famous was virtually perfect and I don't think many writers have his skill at shaping supporting roles

If I keep it national, I'd say Amenábar and Alex de la Iglesia, as long as many people have already said Almodóvar.

Your question has made me wonder what a director does in his daily life, in between projects though. I mean, an average director, without the Scorsese profile or alike, who doesn't write his own movies and that stays away from a movie set in two years or so, what does he do for a living?

Definitely agree with the Malick comment, although I think his style of shooting without a solid script in mind would probably prevent that. It would be interesting to see what sorts of films Kurosawa would be making today.

Norman Jewison. He has such a light touch, an invisible hand, yet actors are at their best with him. I always feel that I'm seeing the real heart of the actor. I'd love to see all my favorite actors revealed like that.

Danis Tanovic: You win an Oscar and a CANNES award with your first film, and in the eight years since, you've done only one movie? Disappointing. Especially since he has such a distinctive comic voice.

Todd Haynes: Fascinating films, even when I don't like them. And when I do like them, I love them.

Sam Mendes: Maybe not. Given that each of his films has received a lot less praise then the film immediately preceding it.

Alfonso Cuaron: COME ON!!!!!!! Children of Men was such a masterpiece.

Philip Kaufman: The only director working in the Hollywood idiom with a frank, adult interest in sex.

Tarantino is only third because I have seen so much of his work. Aronofsky has only made four films, and Nolan hasn't been able to make many personal films outside of the Batman films. All three are among the best directors working today.

I've just looked over other's favorite directors, and found those who listed:

Garry MarshallBaz LurhmanM. Night ShamalayanEdward Zwick

All I can say is you must see more movies, or else be horse-whipped. The world is shitty enough, and artistically deprived...we don't need yearly movies by these paint-by-number, camp-producing hacks! Guilty pleasures or not. Jeeesh!!!

Uncle Vanya -- i am HORRIFIED that you list Baz Luhrmann with that grouping. HORRIFIED. I sentence you to a quadruple feature on loop for the next 24 hours may you only see and think of: Strictly Ballroom / Romeo + Juliet / Moulin Rouge / Australia

NATHANIEL R said... Uncle Vanya -- i am HORRIFIED that you list Baz Luhrmann with that grouping. HORRIFIED. I sentence you to a quadruple feature on loop for the next 24 hours may you only see and think of: Strictly Ballroom / Romeo + Juliet / Moulin Rouge / Australia

so there!

Okay, okay...I liked Romeo and Juliet, but the rest of his films, frankly, make me cringe and laugh, like high-camp does. Sorry, Nat...just one guys opinion.

Henry said... I'm sorry. Glory, Courage Under Fire, Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, Defiance, The Siege. These are considered camp/guilty pleasures? Really? I guess we really differ in opinions...

11:02 AM

I also said paint-by-number in my previous quote. But The Last Samurai is pretty cheesy. God, just looking at that above list of overstuffed machismo is starting to give me hives. No wonder Zwick has never been nominated for directing. Yuk!!!